Safety shoe and instep guard therefor



Sept. 3, 1963 F. B. GRISWOLD ETAL 3,102,347

SAFETY SHOE AND INSTEP GUARD THEREFOR Filed 061; 11, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet1 INVENTORS FRANK B. GRISWOLD WILLIAM K. BANISTER wscwuq A TTORNE Y SSept. 3, 1963 F. B. GRISWOLD ETAL 3,

SAFETY SHOE AND INSTEP GUARD THEREFOR Filed Oct. 11, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet2 INVENTORS FRANK B. GRISWOLD WILLIAM Kv BANIJSTER ATTORNEYS Sept. 3,1963 F. B. GRISWOLD ETAL SAFETY SHOE AND INSTEP GUARD THEREFOR 3Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 11, 1961 INVENTORS FRANK B. GRISWOLD WILLIAM KBANISTER ATTORNEYS United States Patent "ice 3,102,347 SAFETY SHOE AND.INSTEP GUARD THEREFOR Frank B. Griswold, RED. 4, and William K.Banister, 418 S. New Sh, both of Bethlehem, Pa. Filed Oct. 11, 1961,Ser. No. 144,378 12 Claims. (CI. 36-72) The present invention relates tosafety shoes and to instep guards for use in safety shoes.

It is a common practice to provide shoes having toe guards in the formof toe caps or built-in steel box-toe construction. Although such toeguards protect the toes, they do not protect the instep of the wearer,and a great many accidents result in injury to the instep despite thepresence of a toe guard.

It has been proposed to provide instep guards which embody rigid membersconforming generally to the shape of the instep, but these havingheretofore been object- 'tionable for a number of reasons. In the firstplace, they are uncomfortable to wear because they limit the freedom ofmovement of the wearer. In the second place, they are heavy and addsubstantially to the weight of the shoe. In the third place, they aredifficult to apply to the shoe in a manner to assure their retention ,onthe shoe during use.

To make such earlier instep guards comfortable to wear, it has beenproposed to articulate them as by hinged- 'ly joining two sections ofthe guard together, thereby to allow the foot greater freedom ofmovement. Such articulated instep guards, however, have tended to diginto the foot at the point of articulation, and worse, have greatlylessened the protection afforded by the guard. Such known articulatedinstep guards have simply transferred blows that would otherwise beapplied to the foot at the point of impact, to the foot at the point ofarticulation.

Although these and many other attempts have been made to providesuitable instep guards and safety shoes embodying the same, none, as faras is known, has been ments but which assume ,a rigid configurationunder a blow to the instep. I

Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide instepguards and safety shoes embodying the same, which will be relativelysimple and inexpensive to manufacture, comfortable to wear, and rugged1and durable in use. 1

Other objects ,and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from a consideration of the following description, taken inconnection with the. accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a work shoe em- 3,102,347 PatentedSept. 3, 1963 individual strip of the protective articulated assembly ofan instep guardiaccording to the present invention;

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 4 but showing the strip from adifferent angle;

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of the strip of FIGURES 4 and 5;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of the articulated protective assembly ofthe embodiment of FIGURE -1;

FIGURE 8 is a view similar to FIGURE 7 but showing the articulatedprotective assembly of the embodiment of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 9 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view taken on the line 9-9 ofFIGURE 8 and showing the strips comprising the articulated protectiveassembly in their normal or rest position;

FIGURE 10 is a view similar to FIGURE 9 but showing the articulatedassembly spread out flat with the strips in an abnormal positionrelative to each other; and

FIGURE 11 is a view similar to FIGURES 9 and 10 but showing thearticulated assembly in its most arcuate position, as when a blow isdelivered to the instep guard in use, and showing the strips in theposition they astransmission of the blow directly to the instep of thewearer.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, there is shown a firstspecies of the present invention in FIG- URE 1, embodied in a safetyshoe of the work shoe type indicated generally at 11 and including theusual sole 3 and upper 5. An instep guard according to the presentinvention, indicated at "7, is applied to the shoe over the instepthereof, leaving the toe free, guard 7 having downwardly depending sideportions that are secured to the sole of the shoe about midway betweenthe shank and the toe as by sewing or the like, thereby leaving theupper portion of the guard free to be pushed forward to enable lacingand unlacing of the shoe.

T he construction of guard 7 is best seen in cross section in FIGURE 3to include an outer leather casing 9 extending on both sides thereof andcontaining an articulated assembly 11 which is the protective armor ofthe guard. A resilient pad 13 of foam rubber or the like is disposed onthe inner side of the guard within casing 9 and is separated fromarticulated assembly 11 by a sheet 15 of durable cloth or the like sothat articulated assembly 11 does not chew up pad 13. The assembly issewed up at its edges by stitching 17.

The embodiment of FIGURE 2 differs from that of FIGURE 1 in that theinstep guard is not appliedseparate- -ly to the shoe but is integralwith the shoe. Specifically, the safety shoe of FIGURE 2 embodies atongue 19 within which is stitched an articulated assmbly :21 that isthe armored instep guard of the embodiment of FIGURE 2. A resilient padand a protective sheet (not shown) similar to pad '13 and sheet '15 ofFIGURE 3 are disposed below articulated assembly 21, and the leather oftongue 19 provides on both sides of the articulated assembly a casingwithin which the instep guard is contained. As assembly 21 isarticulated and flexible, tongue '19 is 'sufficiently flexible to allowthe shoe to be easily put on and taken off. In FIGURE Zpartscorresponding to parts in FIGURE 1 are designated by primed referencecharacters.

Regardless of the embodiment the instep guard takes, whether as inFIGURE 1 or as in FIGURE 2 or otherwise, the essential portion of theguard is the articulated assembly 11 or 21, and the essential portion ofthe articulated assembly, in turn, is a multiplicity of elongatedarcuate rigid strips 23 which are essentially the same in allembodiments of the invention. Accordingly, the strips 23 and theirrelationship to each other and their functions will now be discussed indetail, it being under- 27 separated from portion 25 by a smoothlyrounded shoulder 29. Portions 25 and 27 and shoulder 29 extendsubstantially full length of the strip. On the side opposite shoulder29, upwardly offset portion 25 carries a downturned edge portion '31terminating in a free edge 33, while on its side opposite shoulder 29,downwardly offset portion 27 carries an upturned edge portion 35terminating in a free edge 3'7. Downturned edge portion 31 and upturnededge portion 35 extend most of the length of strips 23 but arediscontinuous adjacent the ends of the strips, so that the four endcorners of the strips lie on the contour of portions 25 or 27.

Shoulder 29 is generally parallel to the length of strip 23, as is alsofree edge 37 except as the latter edge is displaced from parallelrelationship by its position on upturned edge portion 35. However, thefree edge 37 is not parallelto the length of strip 23 or to shoulder 29,but rather is recessed, that is, is concave as seen in plan in FIGURE 6and opens away from shoulder 29 in that sense. Moreover, upwardly offsetportion 25 and downwardly offset portion 27, although offset from eachother by shoulder 29, are not parallel and their planes are notconcentric or coaxial. Instead, considering offset portions 25 and 27 tobe fragments of cylindrical surfaces, which they are not necessarily,then the axes of those cylinders would not only be noncoincident butwould also be nonparallel to each other. Specifically, lines lying onoffset portions 25 and 27 perpendicular to the length of strips 23 aredisposed at oblique angles to each other as measured on the upper sidesof strips 23, instead of in parallelism to each other as would be thesituation if portions 25 and 27 of an individual strip 23 were parallelto each other.

The purposes of the particular configurations of strips 23 will becomeapparent from a consideration of the positions and functions of thosestrips in the articulated assemblies shown in FIGURES 7 and 8 anddiagramimatically in FIGURES 9, l0 and 11, in which the longitudinaledges of each arched strip are disposed transverse to the length of thearticulated assembly.

Each strip 23 is provided with four holes 39 therethrough, one locatedin each end corner of the strip, and rivets "41 pass through holes 39 ofedgewise overlapping strips 23 to connect the strips by means of amultiplicity of points of articulation into the articulated assembliesshown in FIGURES 7 and 8. to parts in FIGURE 7 are designated by primedreference characters. Specifically, an upwardly oifset portion 25overlies a downwardly offset portion 27 of an immediately adjacent stripin shingle fashion from top to bottom of the articulated assemblies 11and 21. In this connection, it should be noted that in the illustratedembodiments, the upwardly offset portions 25 are actually at the lowerside of each strip 23, they being upwardly offset from the contour ofdownwardly offset portions 27. Similarly, downwardly offset portions arethus offset in the sense that they are downwardly offset from thecontour of upwardly offset portions 25, despite the fact that downwardlyoffset portions 2'7 are actually at the upper sides of the strips whenthe articulated assemblies are in their operative positions.

The-relationship of the parts in their normal or unflexed position isshown in perspective in FIGURES 7 and 8 and in section in FIGURE 9. Inthat normal position of the parts, the overlying portions 25 and 27 ofimmediately adjacent strips 23 are parallel to each other. Also in thatposition ot'the parts, the free edge 33 and shoulder 29 of those sametwo overlying immediately adjacent parts are parallel to each other. Theportions In FIGURE 8 parts corresponding 7 I 25 and 27 of any singlestrip 23, however, are not parallel to each other, as describedabove;-and the shoulder 29 and free edge 33 of any given strip 23 arenot parallel to each other, as also described above. Accordingly, thereason for these non-parallel relationships of various portions of agiven strip relative to each other will now be clear: it is so that thesaid portions of immediately adjacent strips will be parallel to eachother inthe rest or unflexed position of the articulated assembly, andso that in the rest or unflexed position marked by those parallelpositions of corresponding portions of immediately adja cent strips, thearticulated assembly will have the configuration shown in FIGURES 7, 8and 9, that is, upwardly concave on its upper surface as Well asdownwardly concave on its under surf-ace, or more specifically,downwardly concave transverse to the length of the articulated assemblybut upwardly concave parallel to the length of the articulated assembly.This compound curvature is provided sothat the articulatedassemblieswill conform generally to the curvature of a human instep.

The portions of immediately adjacent strips 23 also coact with eachother in unique Ways when the articulated assemblies are flexedundesirably far in either direction. FIGURE 10 shows diagrammaticallywhat happens to an articulated assembly when it is attempted tostraighten it beyond any intended useful position of the assembly. As isthere shown, the upturned edge portions 35 of each strip engage with theunderside of upwardly offset portions 25 or downturned edge portions 31of the immediately adjacent strip, and downturned edge portions 31engage with the upper sides of downwardly offset portions 27 or upturnededge portions 35 of the immediately adjacent strips, thereby preventingfurther articulation of the assembly in a direction to straighten it,and more important, preventing disengagement of the strips fromoverlying relationship with each other.

In the other direction of fiexure of the articulated assembly, FIGURE 11shows what happens when it is attempted to decrease excessively theradius of the upwardly opening concave curve lengthwise of thearticulated assembly. The downturned edge portions 31 then move intocontact with shoulders 29 to prevent further flexing. This last flexureof the articulated assembly is that which is induced by a blow to theinstep of the wearer. Hence, it will be recognized that a very importantfeature of the present invention is the above-described relationship ofparts such that when a blow is delivered to the instep of the wearer ofan instep guard according to the present invention, the guard will flexuntil the upper strips 23 abut edgewise against shoulders 29 of theimmediately lower strips 23, whereupon the articulated assembly becomesa rigid assembly that cannotflex further and that accordingly resiststhe blow and does not transmit the blow at any particular point to thefoot of the wearer.

The upturned and downturned edge portions 35 and 31 also perform thefunction of presenting smoothly rounded edges to the outer sides of thearticulated assemblies thereby to avoid sharp edges that might cut thecoverings of the assemblies. 7

In normal usage, the articulated assembly is perfectly free to flex ineither direction from the normal position shown in FIGURE 9, between thelimits shown in FIG- URES l0 and 11. The instep guards of the presentinvention are thus quite comfortable to wear and do not impede movementsof the wearer, but lock into a rigid assembly under the impact of ablow. There is thus provided a safety shoe and instep guard thereforwhich combines all the comfort features of a freely flexible guard withthe safety features of a completely rigid guard.

As indicated above, the heart of the invention is the articulatedassembly of individual strips 23, which can be largely identical to eachother apart from immaterial variations in shape, length, or curvaturedictated by their position in the articulated assembly, and thisrelationship holds true regardless of which embodiment of the invena,teas/i7 tion is practiced. Thus, for example, the strips 23 at the upperends of the articulated assemblies will of course have curved upperedges to provide a smoothly curved upper end for the articulatedassembly. Similarly, the strips 23 adjacent the lower ends of thearticulated assemblies may be a little longer than those adjacent theupper end, and at the lower end may be smoothly curved to provide asmoothly curved lower end of the assembly. In the case of .theembodiment of FIGURE 1, in which it is desired to transmit some of theimpact directly to the sole of the ,shoe, the lower, strips can be inthe form of substantially longer strips 43 that bridge across the lowerportion of the instep between upper surfaces of the sole of the shoeonopposite sides of the root. In the case of at least the upper .oftheselonger strips 43, the rivet holes 39 and rivets 41 are not spaced apartequal distances transversely of the length of the articulated assembly.Instead, the upper holes 39 and rivets 41 haveabout the same spacing ason the upper strips 23, while the lower holes 39 and rivets 41 arespaced apart from each other a substantially greater distancetransversely of the length of the articulated assembly.

Apart from such minor variations, it is generally true that the holes 39and rivets 41, marking the points of articulation of the articulatedassembly, are disposed generally in a line extending lengthwise of thearticulated assembly along each side thereof. It is important to note,therefore, that in the rest or normal position of the parts indicated inFIGURES 7, 8 and 9, this line along which the points of articulation lieon each side of the articulated assembly is upwardly concave lengthwiseof the assembly, in general conformity with the longitudinally upwardconcavity of articulated assembly as contrasted with the transverselydownward concavity thereof occasioned by the arched configuration ofstrips 23.

From a consideration of the foregoing disclosure, it will be obviousthat all of the initially recited objects of the present invention havebeen achieved.

Although the present invention has been described and illustrated inconnection with preferred embodiments, it is to he understood thatmodifications and variations may be resorted to without departing fromthe spirit of the invention, as those skilled in this art will readilyunderstand. Such modifications and variations are considered to bewithin the purview and scope of the present invention as defined by theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A safety shoe having an instep guard of a compound curvatureconforming generally to the shape of a human instep, the guard beingsecured to the shoe adjacent at least the lower end of the guard andbeing comprised of a plurality of elongated arched rigid stripsextending transversely of the length of the guard, and meansarticulately interconnecting a plurality of the strips with the edges ofadjacent strips overlapping each other, there being four said meanspassing through each of a plurality of the strips one adjacent eachjunction of an end and a transverse edge of the strip.

2. -A safety shoe having an instep guard of a compound curvatureconforming generally to the shape of a human instep, the guard beingsecured to the shoe adjacent at least the lower end of the guard andbeing comprised of a plurality of elongated arched rigid stripsextending transversely of the length of the guard, and meansarticulately interconnecting a plurality of the strips with an edge ofeach of the plurality of strips transverse to the length :of the guardoverlying a transverse edge of one of the immediately adjacent stripsand the other edge of each of the plurality of strips transverse to thelength of the guard underlying a transverse edge of the other of theimmediately adjacent strips, each of a plurality of the strips havingportions parallel to adjacent portions of each immediately adjacentstrip, said portions of each strip being disposed at an angle to eachother such that when all said portions are parallel to their immediatelyadjacent said portionsof immediately adjacent strips the guard isconcave longitudinally upward as Well as transversely downward.

3. A safety shoe as claimed in claim 2, the strips beingarticulatelyinterconnected at points adjacent the ends of the strips,said points lying one pair of lines one lying along each longitudinalsidetedge ofthe guard, said lines being upwardly concave when saidimmediately adjacent portions are parallel as aforesaid.

4. A safety shoe having an instep guard of a corn- 1 pound curvatureconforming generally to the shape of a human instep, the guard beingsecured to the shoe adjacent at least the lower end of the guard andbeing comprised of a plurality of elongated arched rigid stripsextending transversely of the length of the guard, and meansarticul-ately interconnecting a plurality of the strips with an edge ofeach of the plurality of strips transverse to the length of the guardoverlying a transverse edge of one of the immediately adjacent stripsand the other edge of each of the plurality of strips. transverse to thelength of the guard underlying a transverse edge of the other of theimmediately adjacent strips, each of a plurality of the strips having aportion upwardly offset from the profile of the remainder of the stripand a portion downwardly ofiset from the profile of the remainder of thestrip, the upwardly oifset portion of each of a plurality of the stripsoverlying the downwardly offset portion of an immediately adjacentstrip.

5. A safety shoe as claimed in claim 4, a free edge of the upwardlyoffset portion of each of a plurality of strips transverse to the lengthof the guard being downturned and a free edge of the downwardly ofisetportion of each of a plurality of strips transverse to the length of theguard being upturned.

6. A safety shoe as claimed in claim 4, said upwardly and downwardlyoffset portions extending substantially full length of the strips.

7. An instep guard for a safety shoe, the guard having a compoundcurvature of a shape conforming generally to the shape of a humaninstep, the guard being comprised of a plurality of elongated archedrigid strips extending transversely of the length of the guard, andmeans articulately interconnecting a plurality of the strips with anedge of each of the plurality of strips transverse to the length of theguard overlying a transverse edge of one of the immediately adjacentstrips and the other edge of each of the plurality of strips transverseto the length of the guard underlying a transverse edge of the other ofthe immediately adjacent strips, there being four said means passingthrough each of a plurality of the strips one adjacent each junction ofan end and a transverse edge of thest'rip.

8. An instep guard as claimed in claim 7, each of a plurality of thestrips having portions parallel to adjacent portions of each immediatelyadjacent strip, said portions of each strip being disposed at an angleto each other such that when all said portions are parallel to theirimmediately adjacent said portions of immediately adjacent strips, theguard is concave longitudinally upward as well as transversely downward.

9. An instep guard as claimed in claim 8, the strips being articulatelyinterconnected at points adjacent the ends of the strips, said pointslying on a pair of lines one lying along each longitudinal side edge ofthe guard, said lines being upwardly concave when said immediatlyadjacent portions are parallel as aforesaid.

'10. An instep guard for a safety shoe, the guard having a compoundcurvature of a shape conforming generally to the shape of a humaninstep, the guard being comprised of a plurality of elongated archedrigid strips extending transversely of the length of the guard, andmeans articulately interconnecting a plurality of the strips with anedge of each oi. the plurality of strips transverse to the length of theguard overlying a transverse edge of one of the immediately adjacentstrips and the other edge of each of the plurality of strips transverseV to the length of the guard underlying a transverse edge of the otherof the immediately adjacent strips, each of a plurality of the stripshaving a portion upwardly offset from the profile of the remainder ofthe strip and a portion downwardly offset from the profile of theremainder of the strip, the-upwardly offset portion of each of aplurality ofthe strips overlying the downwardly offset portion of animmediately adjacent strip.

=11. An instep guard as claimed in claim 10, a free edge of the upwardlyaoffset portion of each of a plurality of strips transverse to the'length of the guard being downturned and a free edge of the downwardlyoffset portion of each of a plurality of strips transverse to the lengthof the guard being upturned.

12. An instep guard as claimed in claimlO', said upwardly and downwardlyoifset portions extending substantially full length of the stripsReferences (lited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSRoberts Jan. 11, 1944 2,339,193 2,555,900 Roberts June 5, 1951 2,833,058Wilmanns et a1. May 6, 1958 2,842,872 Shul'tz'"; July 15, 1958 FOREIGNPATENTS 660,167 Germany May 18, 1938 892,180

France Jan. 3, 1944

1. A SAFETY SHOE HAVING AN INSTEP GUARD OF A COMPOUND CURVATURECONFORMING GENERALLY TO THE SHAPE OF A HUMAN INSTEP, THE GUARD BEINGSECURED TO THE SHOE ADJACENT AT LEAST THE LOWER END OF THE GUARD ANDBEING COMPRISED OF A PLURALITY OF ELONGATED ARCHED RIGID STRIPSEXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF THE LENGTH OF THE GUARD, AND MEANSARTICULATELY INTERCONNECTING A PLURALITY OF THE STRIPS WITH THE EDGES OFADJACENT STRIPS OVERLAPPING EACH OTHER, THERE BEING FOUR SAID MEANSPASSING THROUGH EACH OF A PLURALITY OF THE STRIPS ONE ADJACENT EACHJUNCTION OF AN END AND A TRANSVERSE EDGE OF THE STRIP.